The Gatherer and the Beastmaster
by Xanderlike
Summary: Takkar is the Beastmaster who saves the Wenja and defeats their enemies. Sayla is the Gatherer who feeds them and gives them a home. Once they save the Wenja can they save each other?
_Takkar._

Sayla expects abandonment and betrayal when she meets Takkar because that is all she has known since the Udam destroyed her village. She has seen signs of other Wenja … even seen them in the distance, but they did not answer her calls. They did not welcome her into their lives. She knows that this is because she is … different. The screams have changed her …

But Takkar does not abandon her. He saves her from the tiger. He treats her wounds. He tells her that he will bring the other Wenja to the caves. He tells her that they will be a village again. They will be strong again.

And somehow she trusts him.

 _Beastmaster._

Tensay changes him.

He looks at the world differently as though seeing it for the first time. He tells her that he is a Beastmaster now. An owl answers his call, and he tells her that he can see through its eyes.

She asks him what he sees when he looks at her with those new eyes of his. She is afraid of the answer. She is afraid that he will see how broken she is. She is afraid he will look at her the way the other Wenja do …

He tells her she is beautiful.

And she _almost_ believes him.

 _The Crafter._

Wogah could have killed him.

The one armed crafter is mad. Even _she_ can see that. He's been alone too long. Thoughts of vengeance has made him blind to the world around him.

If he had killed Takkar …

She has known fear. She has lived with fear every night since her village died. This is different. This isn't fear for herself. This is fear for another … this is fear for Takkar.

She does not know how she would live without him.

 _The Wenja._

More Wenja come every day.

Takkar is gone more than he is there. When Tensay does not walk in the world of spirits he tends to the wounded, the living and the dead. Wogah is insane.

That leaves her to settle the disputes. To tell the Wenja where they may settle. To settle disputes. To make a village out of men and women who have lived hand to mouth for many moons. Takkar is saving lives; she is giving them a home.

The other Wenja start to call her "Beastmaster's Woman."

At first, that angers her. She survived for moons without Takkar. She found the caves. She is the one who feeds them. Why is Takkar not "The Gatherer's Man"?

She does not know if she is Takkar's woman. She has never had a man of her own. She was too young when her village was destroyed. She has never been courted. She does not know how to tell if a man wants her. She does not know how to tell a man she wants him.

Takkar grew up in a small band of hunters. He knows as little of these things as she does. If she were not so broken, she would laugh over it.

Takkar comes to her before anyone else. He tells her of the things that he's done. What he has seen. Each new beast he tames he shows to her.

She does not know if she is his woman. She does not know if he wants her. She knows that she is special to him.

It's enough.

 _Dah._

She shouldn't have told him.

In spite of her anger- her _rage_ \- she knows Takkar. She knows that he will go after the Udam. He will save him.

If she had wanted the Udam's death, all she had to do was stay quiet. If she had not confronted Takkar- if she had not told him of the Wenja's plans- then the Udam would have died and perhaps one more of the screams in her head would have been silenced for good.

But she hadn't.

She had told him.

She raged at Takkar. She screamed. She wanted to know _why_ he had betrayed her like this.

And she told him what he needed to save the Udam.

Perhaps that was her intention all along.

 _Jayma._

The Hunter is a woman.

She's older than Sayla, and the Gatherer doesn't admit to herself how happy she is about that. She knows that Takkar respects Jayma. She knows that she shares things with Takkar that Sayla herself cannot. They both know the hunt.

She does not treat Sayla with the respect- the fear- of the other Wenja women. She teases Sayla, but she does not mock her. It is like having an older sister or aunt again …

She wants to ask Jayma if Takkar speaks of her.

But she doesn't.

She doesn't want to hear that he doesn't. She doesn't want to see the Hunter tell her that Takkar deserves someone who doesn't wear the screams of the dead or wears Udam ears around her neck. She does not want to hear Jayma tell her she isn't worthy of the Beastmaster.

She knows that already.

 _The Udam Children._

Ull is dead.

The screams are gone. She does not need the ears. Is this what peace feels like?

The Wenja are still in danger. Without Ull, the Udam will not threaten the village again, but the Izila are still a threat. She knows they will have to be dealt with. She knows that Takkar's work is not done.

Sayla's work has just begun.

The Udam children. Ull's children. She is surprised when Takkar brings them to the village and tells them of his promise to keep them safe. She is surprised that she does not feel hatred for the girl and the baby in her arms.

Their world has ended.

Just like Sayla's did.

The other children- the Wenja children- mock the girl and her brother. The adults do not harm them- the Beastmaster has commanded them- but they make no effort to spare the girl from the derision and torment of the other children.

Sayla does.

She takes the girl and her brother into her home. Together, they bury the ears of the Udam. She starts to teach the girl how to be a Gatherer. She tells her Wenja stories … and listens to her speak of the beliefs of the Udam. She fears that at first- she is afraid that it will awaken hatred in the heart for the girl and that she will do her harm …

But it doesn't.

Ull is dead. The screams are gone. She does not have to take her pain out on the Udam girl. She can listen with an open heart.

Perhaps this is what it means to heal.

 _Roshani._

She does not hate the Iliza man the way she hated the Udam. Many of the Wenja do- Tensay among them- but she does not. It is a curious thing to be without hate.

Takkar wants the help of the Iliza man to defeat Batari. He can do more than that. He can help the Wenja prosper.

Sayla is a Gatherer. She can find where almost no one else can, but she's having to go farther and farther abroad to try to find more and more food for the growing Wenja children. The hunters also must range farther which puts them at greater risk. There is strength in numbers, but the old ways cannot feed a village this size forever.

The Iliza feed even greater numbers. They grow their own food. That is a powerful magic that the Wenja have never possessed.

So Sayla does her best to befriend the Iliza. It is not an easy thing. He is not an easy man to like.

But there is one thing about Roshani she does understand. She knows what it is to feel alone.

So she makes him a Wenja bracelet. She tells him that he can have a place among them. Life will not be easy for him, but he can have a future.

And so will the Wenja.

She likes to think that Takkar will be proud of her.

 _Jayma again._

Jayma leaves when Takkar tames the last of the Great Beasts.

She told Sayla she would leave when Takkar achieves this. Duty alone had kept her with the Wenja to protect them from the animals that the lesser hunters could not stop. Now that the threat of the Great Beasts is ended, Jayma feels free to leave.

She does not want the Hunter to go, but she does not try to stop her. "You have to follow your heart," she tells Jayma.

"And so do you, Sayla." The Hunter smiles and gives her the first embrace she has received since her mother died. "He is yours. You are his. Tell him. The Mammoth Foot is a good hunter, but he cannot follow this trail."

"I do not know how." She doesn't know how to tell Takkar that she needs him. She does not know how to tell him that her heart belongs to him. She does not know how to live if he doesn't want her.

"You will learn, child. You will learn."

 _The Beastmaster._

Takkar wins.

The other Wenja treat it as though it were destiny, even Tensay. They dance and sing in praise of Takkar. The Beastmaster smiles, but she sees the shadows in his eyes.

She watches him throughout the celebration. He smiles at everyone and speaks warmly to everyone who dares approach him. He holds Ull's daughter in his arms as though she were his own blood child, and it is the first time that she sees something like peace on his face since he returned from defeating Batari.

But the shadows do not leave his eyes.

And she is not surprised to find him leaving the village in the dead of night.

"Where are you going, Takkar?" She does not call him Beastmaster. She believes that he has heard enough of "Beastmaster" today.

"There are still Wenja who have not found their way to us. I am needed out there."

"You are needed here."

"You have things well in hand, Gatherer. You run the village much better than I ever could."

"It is nice of you to admit that." She smiles. It still feels strange to smile. "But the Udam and Iliza fear the Wenja now. They fear you. You can have one night of peace."

"There is no peace for me, Sayla. Not anymore." He looks down at his hands. "I burned Batari alive. I can still hear her screams."

"She would have killed you. She killed our people. She enslaved our people. She deserved to die."

"She is not the only one. I was a hunter, Sayla. Until I came to Oros I only ever killed animals- and that was to eat. Now I have killed men and women. So many times … so much death. I see them when I close my eyes. I see their blood on my hands ..."

"You killed to survive. For our people to survive. The Udam and Iliza hunted us. You had no choice."

"No. I did not." He looks at her. "But I cannot stay. Not yet."

She sighs. "Go then. Find the rest of our people. Bring them home. I will be waiting for them."

He turns to leave.

"Takkar?"

"Yes?" He looks back at her as though to memorize everything about her.

She steps into his arms. "I will be waiting for you. Come back safely." She touches his face. "Come back to me."

He holds her for a moment, and she drinks in his scent. The sound of his heartbeat as she lays her head on his chest. The feel of his arms about her …

"I will come back, Sayla. I will come back safely." He smiles. "I will come back to you. I will always come back to you."


End file.
